


An Icy Christmas

by Oracle507



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Ice Cream Parlors, M/M, Multi, Only a tiny sprinkle of angst, POV Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, POV Morality | Patton Sanders, This is my version of a coffee shop au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:00:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28372023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oracle507/pseuds/Oracle507
Summary: Everyone is excited to hang out on Christmas, but Virgil tries to ditch last minute. Why, and what will the others do about it?
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil & Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton, Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton
Comments: 1
Kudos: 41





	An Icy Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a Sanders Sides Gift Exchange.

Patton loved working at Sander’s Scoops, his local ice cream shop. He liked it even more during winter, since that meant less people would come in and he could spend more time talking to his coworkers, especially Virgil. He lived for the days where Patton and Virgil were on duty together and their other friends/partners/whatever term they felt like using that day came in and they could all hang out. Friends since high school, even before then for some of them, Roman, Logan, Virgil, and Patton were inseparable. They remained close even after they’d all graduated and started attending different colleges.

The bell on the door to the shop rang. Virgil instinctually disappeared into the back, always reluctant to interact with customers unless he had to. Patton was always more than willing to take up that burden, leaving Virgil in charge of inventory and baking. He smiled when he saw Roman and Logan enter. “Don’t worry, Virgil. It’s them,” Patton said. Virgil emerged from the back almost as fast as he initially disappeared.

The four said their hellos before falling into casual conversation. Patton and Virgil prepared their usuals as they talked about school. The topic soon shifted to Christmas, which was a week away. Patton saw Virgil tense for a moment, a reaction so momentary that Patton wondered if he had imagined it. Patton had learned to trust his instincts when it came to others emotions and made a note in his head to talk to Virgil about this later.

Despite Virgil’s odd behavior, Patton couldn’t help but start to get excited. All four had arranged to celebrate Christmas with their families in the morning then have their own celebration together that evening. While Patton and Roman both loved the opportunity to buy everyone a super special gift, Logan had suggested they all do a secret Santa with everyone buying and receiving one gift. Patton didn’t understand why Logan would want that until Virgil seconded the proposal immediately. Although Virgil’s financial situation was far from awful, they all knew he was constantly one bad month away from losing his studio apartment. Picking up on Logan’s reasoning, Patton and Roman both agreed to do a Secret Santa without much convincing.

The shop’s owner, Thomas, showed up near closing time just as he always did. Virgil excused himself to talk to Thomas in the back. Patton didn’t see this as odd at first. After all, Virgil was always the one to go over the inventory. It didn’t hit him until later how quickly he excused himself, and how guilty he looked when he came back out. Virgil barely contributed to the conversation after that, silently cleaning up as fast as he could so they could get out of there. Patton caught Roman and Logan giving each other concerned looks. They must have also picked up on Virgil’s odd behavior.

Once the store was closed and they were good to go, Roman started to make more of an effort to pull Virgil into the conversation. Virgil continued to give one word answers. The group soon grew quiet as they walked.

“I… Um…” Virgil started. “I need to… I…” Patton gave him what he hoped was an encouraging smile. It seemed to only make Virgil more uncomfortable. “I can’t see you all on Christmas.”

Everyone abruptly stopped walking to stare at him. “What? Why?” Roman asked.

“It’s… I just… I can’t. Sorry.” Roman opened his mouth to say something else but Virgil cut him off. “I’ll still get the present.”

“You think that’s what we care about?” Roman shouted. Virgil flinched. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. It’s just… What happened?” Virgil looked down and didn’t give them a response.

“Well,” Logan said, putting a hand on Virgil’s shoulder, “we will miss you, and I’m sure you would attend if you could.”

“Yeah, of course,” Virgil said. “Sorry to ditch last minute.”

Roman lightly elbowed him as they started walking again. “No worries, we’ll hang out together some other time.” Patton nodded.

* * *

Patton went into work the next day. It sucked that Virgil wasn’t also scheduled, but he liked Sam well enough. She did her work well and was more than willing to put in the necessary effort, unlike many of Patton’s other coworkers. The day had been slow so far and they spent most of the time engaged in small talk. 

Patton’s mood fell when the topic of Christmas came up. He forced a smile and said, “I hope your family isn’t too upset you have to work that day.” Despite Thomas offering to pay extra to anyone willing to work on Christmas, there weren’t many volunteers. That forced many of the newer employees to step up.

Sam’s eyes lit up. “Oh, you don’t know? Someone volunteered to work Christmas for me. Thomas called me last night.”

“Really? That’s great! Who was it?”

“I don’t know. One of the people that were working last night I guess. I didn’t ask who, though I probably should so I can thank them.”

‘Oh…’ “Yeah, you should… do that.” Patton hurried off to the back, pretending he had to do something. Either Sam fell for that or took the hint that Patton didn’t want to talk anymore, because he wasn’t followed. ‘Why would Virgil do that? We had everything set up and… The money. Virgil must need money for something. Why didn’t he just tell us? We’d help him out, especially if that meant we could spend more time with him.’

But Virgil was always like this. He wanted to be self reliant and wouldn’t take help unless he absolutely needed it. Even if accepting help would be better for everyone in the end.

* * *

Virgil sat in his room Christmas Eve wrapping Logan’s present, music blasting through his earbuds. He frowned at the finished product. He regretted not giving in and putting the gift in a regular box. He poked the uneven edges, forcing himself to be content with his horrible wrapping job. ‘Not that Logan will care. He’ll probably just point out that it’s easier to unwrap this way. Patton would insist I did it perfectly. Roman might point out how awful I did, but the others would probably glare at him until he thought of something nice to say about it.’

Not that any of that mattered. He’ll just drop it off at Logan’s place on his way to work tomorrow. He sighed and collapsed onto his bed. “I’m an awful boyfriend…” he mumbled. A part of him knew deep down that they would all rather he ask them for money than ditch them, but that part of him was selfish for wanting other people’s money and should shut up.

He jumped when he heard a knock at the door. He tiptoed to the door and looked through the peephole. Seeing who it was, he opened the door. “Hey! What are you doing here?”

Virgil pulled his earbuds out as Logan and Roman entered his small, sad apartment. “Good evening,” Logan said.

“Oh, hold on.” Virgil picked up the present off the ground and handed it to him. “This is yours.”

“Ah. Thank you, but you may hold onto it.”

“Um, okay.” Virgil put it on his bed. “I’m not used to you coming over unannounced, so sorry the place is kinda a mess.”

“Please, you should see my brother’s place.” Roman shuttered. “Anyway, we actually have to tell you something. Patton wanted you to find out tomorrow, but Logan remembered that you don’t like surprises so we came here.”

“To get to the point, Patton found out that you’re working tomorrow.”

“Of course he did...”

“So he decided he should do the same.”

Virgil sat up. ‘What? Why? He shouldn’t have to do that.”

“Neither should you,” Roman said. “He talked to the owner last night. He’s okay with us having our celebration there as long as you both still take care of the customers and get everything done.”

“That’s… Thank you, but I don’t want to ruin things for you guys.”

“How would including you ruin anything?” Logan asked.

“No, I mean, now Patton and I will be working. That’s not fair to you guys or Pat.”

“It would be less fair for you to be left out.”

Roman took Virgil’s hand. “I love being with you and hated thinking I wouldn’t be able to. The group is different without you. We need you.”

Virgil desperately tried to stop himself from crying. “This is… Thank you.” The three of them joined together in a group hug. Relief flooded Virgil, both from knowing he wouldn’t have to spend his holiday without them and from knowing how much the others cared for him. “I’m sorry I tried to hide this from you.”

“It’s okay,” Logan said. “Just know that we are here for you whenever you need us.” And they always will be.


End file.
